if you removed the cluster/ speedometer from a "modern " car i bet it would set a code with the BCM and more then likely you wouldnt be able to even start the car due to antitheft or some nonsense of the like
If I bought a car around this age it would be my daily driver I love older cars and hate how new cars have a big tablet in the center that tells you everything.
Can't wait for more updates on this! It is so cool to see throw away cars from the 70's-80's era.... The cars we used to take for granted...are now mostly gone...
That's gotta be one of the cleanest J cars I've seen in years! It's a keeper in my eyes, it's too old for most people to be worth anything more than $750-$1k on the used market, you'd make more money by keeping it and rocking the smiles per mile concept 😂
I have a soft spot for these cars. I had a job as a "vehicle messenger" for a bank when I was in college and we had a fleet of 1986 Caviilier wagons. Poor things put up with a lot of abuse from all the other college kids that worked there but they kept on going. Nice find Jay, I would hang on to it if it was me.
Hey Jay, if you ever need any little small pieces for this car that are easy to ship let me know. I’m up in Maine. I have an 84 cavalier out in the field behind my house that’s been sitting there for about 30 years and is totally rotted out. I believe it only has 85,000 miles or so, the interior is mint. Lots of good parts I’d hate to see go to waste. Good luck with the new project!
Are you serious? I’d take the seatbealts. (The part on the floor by the console) the glove box with the latch on the dash side too. I’d be interested in a lot of the inside
Yes, I’m serious. I believe all of that you mentioned so far is intact and still good. The interior is brown, not sure if that matters to you or not. Do you have an email I can get? I can speak to you further there and send photos.
@@MXguy95 I forgot to tag you in my reply. Just making sure you got it. As I stated the interior is brown. I wanted to make sure you still wanted those parts before I send them. If you need anything more than that let me know.
In 1982, I learned to drive as a teenager in a beige Chevy Cavalier sedan. Good memories. Dirt simple humble cars with cheap plastic interiors. But so, so reliable and functional you had to respect them.
Drove my girlfriends 83 Cav from Michigan to Florida and back in 93. Had to run the heater in traffic to keep it from over heating because the electric fan didn't work. Got a flat tire on the same trip. Good times, thanks for bringing back the memories.
Yours looks nice. I had an 83 coupe with no options or even a cigarette lighter, but I didn’t want a Chevette. It served me well and later my sister drove it until it just died. When GM could make a reliable vehicle. Good luck with the Cavalier.
We had a 84 Buick Skyhawk. It wasn’t a T-Type but it was red with black out trim, alloy wheels 5 speed stick and full instrumentation. Pretty cool car then. Dad loved it because it got awesome gas mileage.
I love these cars. I had my grandma's 1984 Cavalier wagon and I ran it all through college back in 1997. The only issue I had to fix was the AC. I never see the wagons anymore and if I ever found one in good shape id buy it! Thanks for the memories!
Had to click on this because my first car was an ‘84 Cavalier “Type 10” 2 door. Maroon, no A.C. Seeing the interior and engine compartment, along with hearing it start up and the interior buzzers was kinda cool.
Yes! Gotta love the ol pressure driven gm transmissions. When you showed the leak, I already knew where this was going. I got a 92 gmc jimmy that had bad Trans cooler lines bought it for $400 owner said Trans is shot. Replaced lined, topped it off and it was just fine all 4 gears. Very common thing on these ol gm cars.
Drove one these for drivers Ed. back in the 1980's and later had a 1987 4-door like this one with the 2.0 and auto trans except in light blue. Have also driven the next 2 newer generations of Cavalier but I always thought this generation felt the tightest and best put together with no squeaks and rattles unlike the newer generations. Nothing to look at but it was comfortable, got great gas mileage, was super reliable and easy and cheap to fix. Would love to find a clean one like that.
I had a 1987 Maroon Cavalier. It died with 365,000 miles on it. Mostly because the body rusted out thanks to New York salting the crap out of our roads.
I had a '82 Omega bought new. Those GM cars back then required you be a tinkerer to keep them running; nothing major, just picky stuff. But, if those picky items didn't get fixed the car would not last very long. I kept mine in good working order and it ran 186,000 miles before I sold it and bought a new car.
Oh wow, my first car was the same make and model, same color too. Dang you done brought back so many memories and nostalgia for me. Kinda emotional lol. Every man’s first car had a special place in his heart, no matter what it was. Oh I paid $350 for mine back in 2002, it was kinda a beater at that point, but so similar price too. By beater I mean high mileage, smelled of cigarettes bad when I got it. Driver rear window didn’t work. Not the greatest interior, exterior was excellent. Engine and transmission was ok given 177k miles on it. Had to hit the passenger headlight now and again for it to work. Had to hit it just right too. Never did get the glove box open after I put the registration in it, damn thing done got stuck. Damn glove box claimed a box of Phillies blunts too. It was a 1985 for the year, which is the year I was born. So my first car was born the year I was. Damn if we lived in the same state I’d buy it off you. To have my first car again. Was it PA titled before?
The VSS is the vehicle speed sensor that lives in the speedometer. This brings back memories of my 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. The lock-up torque converter worked the same way. There is a rotating vane in the speedometer that is counted by the ECM. There are lockup parameters dependent upon the vehicle. Mine locked up at 48mph cruising and disengaged when touching the brake pedal.
The TH125s are damn near hard to kill unless he was driving it low. Even then, filter and fluid and you usually can send it. The most amazing thing is that the buzzer stilll works. The heat and humidty kills those.
One of my favorite products for automatic transmissions is the red bottle of LubeGard. I use it in my 2001 Ram's 46RE and I'd highly recommend it for this lil Cavalier here.
my 40s now. Something like this was everybody's first car. Mine was a 1986 Chrysler reliant hydrated piss yellow. Timing belt snapped. And then I found the old beat up brown 76 Corolla 5-speed 200$ had so much fun in that and oh yeah I like dom says I was double clutching like I should 😂
I had a 1986 model that was an RS it had the rectangle gauge cluster that had the 5mph on the left and 85mph on the right not the round ones that you have and that needle gets past 55mph it went ape shit.mine had the dummy light too for temp and oil and battery. I added a tach on mine lol I loved that lil car for my first car for $50 in 2003. Drove that car til 319 thousand miles original engine and trans. The fuse box melted for some reason and that was that for her 😔
Congrats on finding such a nice little old Cavalier. My parents and I purchased a brand new 1985 (ordered out) in the SC trim in gray over gray and automatic. Loved that car and wish so badly that I could find one like that again. I do have my most saught after car now: a last model year 1988 Cadillac Cimarron. Yes, the super fancy Cavalier! But it's super clean and low miles and I love it.
So glad you saved this gem. Good car. Owned a Cavalier once. It had the 2.2. My neighbor sold me an 86 Corsica with 2.0 in it. It got me by till i got the Cavalier.
Its always great to see cars that was once apart of my childhood cars like the cavalier escort and corsicas and trucks like the mid 90s Ford rangers and Chevy S10s
That's a real gem! Nice acquisition! 👍👍 Definitely worth fixing...and keeping if you decide to. Still real good on gas, of course. I really wish that the car makers still made cars like these. But, yeah......thanks for sharing, Jay!
Around 2002, I bought one of these with a failing transmission for $1 and we had a weekend of debauchery and degeneracy. You'd be surprised how much air it can catch.
Jay I saw your video from 5 years ago saving a scrap grey Ford Ranger. You were wearing a pizza planet shirt. now you got long hair and beard now? You are getting old old bruh. 🤣 I enjoy watching you save these old vehicles! you must be making a killing flipping old cars! congrats on your success
There is no mistaking the drone of a 4 cyl GM of that era. No other brand sounded like that, especially Japanese cars. I had a Celebrity back in the day with an Iron Duke that sounded just the same. And you had to get on it all the time just to get up to speed LOL. As rust free as it is you stole it at that price plus parts.
We've missed you and these resurrection videos Jay! Love your problem solving skills and resourcefulness, much respect. Someone loved and took care of that car, they weren't built to last forty years. The paperwork was interesting, wonder how much trade in they got for a sixteen year old Impala. That dealer/owner card used to be a metal plate with info about the owner, dealer, ect. It was attached to the warranty book and called a Protecto Plate. I still have the original one and the build sheet from my 1970 Monte Carlo. Peace.
My dad had a 2-door blue '86 back in the early 90's. Probably the first car I got to steer as a little kid. I'd really love to find one in clean condition so that I can join the 80's J-body brigade!
TRANCE! I haven’t seen your name pop up in awhile! Glad to see you still around! Find you a j-car before other people start collecting them😂 Also, digging that new profile pic! Turned into a hunk!
Nice, I've owned 6 Cavaliers, two automatics, a 99 I bought brand new sold it and the next was 2002, the rest were 5-speeds, I'm pretty much just a fan of 95-05.
My Grandfather had a 1984 Pontiac Sunbird similar to that . I took my driver's license test in it. The license examiner was tall and good sized person and almost didn't fit in. I thought I wasn't going to pass because they had a rough time getting in that car.😅 Car drove really well and I passed. Look forward to seeing more content on it.
I love these GM J Bodies!! Definitely a great great great car. My wife daily’s a 93 Cavalier 4 door 2.2L that we bought for $350 with a bad fuel pump. The scrap yard had already been called when we showed up to all about it. Fuel pump, tires, plugs, wires, coils, coil mounting plate (that was fun) and an oil change and it runs. I tease my wife by calling it the world’s largest go cart but it’s a fun little car to run around in. Still looking for a handful of odds and ends but it’s blast.
There's something so pleasing seeing about seeing such an austere classic, like a 1985 4-door Cavalier not only surviving, but thriving! A family friend of my parents had a... it was either a dark blue or gray 1987 4-door Cavalier, and it was basic motoring at its finest. Can never go wrong with an honest, simple car! It's very cool to see that the original owner held onto everything, including the dealer key tag (I did the same thing and kept the dealer tag when I bought my Subaru in 2021.) I noticed the company that made that key tag was from my hometown of Troy, Michigan (a pointless detail, but just felt like mentioning.)
Parents had an 83 or 84. I remember the paint going bad . Along with many other issues. Radio went out, rack and pinion went out. Which a recall. Paint faded out way too early. A/C gave out and the list goes on. Nail in the coffin was the lifter’s or valves went out in 93.
I had an 86 Cavalier 4-door, with a sun roof. My dad bought it off someone he'd known from work in the late 90s, for me to drive. I loved that thing a lot, but it quickly started drinking oil and smoking like crazy. I lived in a really podunk NW Ohio town at the time, one mechanic attached to a BP station. Took the car there three times, and he couldn't get the oil to stop leaking, always blamed the sending unit. Had to sell it to a neighbor's son in Michigan, who replaced the crumbling factory cork head gasket. Oil stopped leaking. I would so love to have that exact car back, even today.
Bought one of these in wagon version years back with 90,000 miles for $500. drove it for 31/2 years and pur 90,000 miles on it with very little work,5 spd version a great car.
It's always cool to find A relic from your past isn't it my first car was a 1987 Chevy cavalier that looks a lot like the one in this video except mine was turd brown the pastor at my grandmother's Church his wife had this cavalier and I bought it off of him drove it for quite a while then traded it in on a Dodge truck
My first car was a dark red 1985 Cavalier “Type 10”. Loved it, drove the hell out of it for 8yrs until it just fell apart mechanically. Replaced it with a….1993 red Cavalier 2-door. You are correct about the 80s Cavalier being a basic car, the 93 version's felt like luxury cars by comparison. But I have such fond memories of that ‘85, fun to tool around in, it was so easy to fix and keep running, 24mpg all day long.
I absolutely love when old cars still have the original docs in the glovebox! My little bros 90 Miata had its owners manual, dealership docs, and its first inspection at 7 miles! Also congrats on 100k subs! ( I know I'm wayyyy late lol)
I’ve had many cars with some original paperwork. But this much documentation?!? Is just unreal! Good to see you Fuzz Butt! I still have to put that radio in the dodge you got me 😅
Ok. Here's my nugget on Cavaliers this age. I had an '84 that I rebuilt the engine on when I got it. It had been ran hot due to a leaking water pump. After I got it running, rebuilt and a new water pump...the fan on the rad would not come on. So the a/c had a bad compressor on it so I ran the car in a/c mode all the time with the pressure switch on the accumulator unplugged, to prevent compressor from running...which made the rad can run all tje time car was on. For several years I searched for an answer for why the rad fan wouldnt cycle. I put a couple of fan switches on at the thermostat housing and that did not help. I could bypass the switch and the fan would run. So by mistake I found out why the problem existed. Even the dealerships said to just bypass the fan switch...and I told them it wasnt designed that way! So I parked the car for a year or two and I didnt drive it. When I started to drive it again, the heater core sprung a leak. So I bypassed the heater core. Low and behold, the fan switch started working! 😳 I replaced the heater core, and I tried to flush the old one. And it was stopped up with rust and barely flowed water. So the flow path was from the water pump to the heater core, and from there to the thermostat housing. With that much restriction the bulb on the fan switch was never fully submersed in coolant. I guess the steam wasnt enough to cycle the switch. So, anybody have this problem....bypass the heater core to check it if fan switch dont fix it. There are probably thousands of switches bypassed out there....if they are still on the road.
Had an 85 olds Firenza. Same car really. Car wouldn’t go over about 60 up a hill and something was always broke on it. We referred to it as the crapper. Good times.
No way!!! My grandma had one of these back in the 90s, it was a MY1984. Michigan weather took its toll on it. I haven't seen one of these in so long, even the 2000s Cavaliers up here are getting pretty scarce.
Ive been working on a 83 convertible cav myself. It started right up and drove it home. Just need to replace all the rubber and fix some rust in the floor pans. Gonna tear down the engine just in case. Theyre not great cars, but nowadays theyre rare.
It really didn’t hold a candle when compared to the civics and corollas it was competing against. But, having that boxy American styling just sold them like crazy. I love seeing them on the road. Although it’s very rare
Love the car, I think I'm older than you and the year that car came out, I bought the least expensive car Chevy had in 1985, a Chevy chevette, white, 4 door 5 speed, it cost me 6280 dallars out the door and it was financed for 5 years at 132 a month with the trade in of my 1980 Ford pinto, everyone made fun of that chevette,I drove it for 9 years and traded it in on a 1994 s10 pickup, I miss that car, I love cars from mid 80s to late 80s, it's when I first started driving, keep that car, if you do sell it, get in contact with me, nice car
it feels like i haven't seen a video from you in years! so weird i just stopped getting recommended to you i didn't have any kids the last time i watched you 😭😭😭
My first brand new car was a 1985 Cavalier Type 10. I had the dealer order it from the factory with the optional 2.8 liter V6. Several weeks later the factory sent a message that said they discontinued the V6 option. I was super disappointed.
That is a nice looking car for being 40 yrs old now! Can't believe that's a 1985. The Celebrity looked alot like this car as well! Both good cars from that era
I had 1990 Chevy cavalier I brought with 49.000 a bad oil sensor ran like a dream after fix but it GM faulty head bolts and blew head gasket at 65000 new head and ARP bolt kit fix head bolt threads premature wear because it was a cast iron block with aluminum head gm use fine thread head bolt guy who did head gasket was 40 year gm plant worker and dealer mechanic who knew 2.2 problem by back of his hand
A buddy told me he had a bit of luck polishing run scratches off windshields with 3000 grit and a jewellers emery cloth like they use to polish watch crystals. good goin Jay
These 80's and 90's Subcompacts are making a comeback. The 3 biggest trends I have noticed in the car culture the last several years are the 80's and 90's subcompacts, from all the munfactors, Mir-late 70's muscle cars from the Big 4 (AMC included) and the Bull and Bricknose Ford F100 & F150's. They are Cheap to buy, Easy to work on and the parts are still available at the parts houses.
what a cool video! my first car was a 1985 Pontiac 6000LE (same car as this) and as a kid i thought that v6 was the fastest thing in the world lol. that beast went through 5 accidents from youthful stupidity, and i still couldn't kill that little 2.8L... last one knocked all the coolant clean out of it, she made me walk across town, and when i came back it fired right up and kept goin like nothing happened. those cars were something else. we still had a little pride in em back then, no matter how silly looking. i'm watchin and i hear in the background like "what is that noise.. wait, is that rain on the roof? i remember when you could hear rain on the roof!" new cars are so insulated, and i didn't even realize when it happened.
Fun fact, the Pontiac 6000 is not the same as a cavalier. They are completely different chassis and do not share components. Pontiac DID however have a car built off the “j platform” which was called the sunbird! Later it became known as the sun fire when the car was redesigned in the mid 1990s
@@MXguy95 i remembered the Sunbird and knew it to be a J-body, but didn't realized until i checked that the 6000 was an entirely different chassis. learn something new every day. thanks
It would be interesting to drive a car like this, back to the dealership it was originally purchased at, if it was still in business, just to see what they think. Considering this car was considered a throwaway car, it is still in nice condition, considering it's age.
These are the kind of cars I drive. They are cheap to buy and maybe I have to put a little into it, but they just run. My daily driver is a 2013 Chevy Spark that I just love. Would love to find a Chevy Citation.
GREAT FIND! I've got four 2nd gen (88 - 94) V6 Cavaliers. Love these cars. I too gave $300 for my first one. An 88 Z24 5spd Coupe. I've got some videos of them on my channel.
I had 3 of these in my life... My favorite was my 85 with a 2.0 -4sp manual. Nuked a clutch in 6 months on that car...... 3-4k clutch dumps. I miss that car. Had 2 amps, a 15" sub, 6x9s, and 3.5 up front.
I love older cars. They are so much easier to work on. simple and straight forward.
It’s nice to know I’m not alone in an addiction to browsing old cars on Facebook Marketplace 😂
Started doing the same about five years ago😂
Dude that’s how I spend most my days anymore is marketplace
I might be getting a divorce for getting to much stuff off of marketplace.🤣 I need a marketplace anonymous seminar.
wouldnt be much of a market if not
Nope, I think all of us do that. I think more time at work is spent on marketplace than actually working!
It's funny how at one point in time, nobody would bat an eye at these and today, it's a "classic". Great find man, keep it running!
if you removed the cluster/ speedometer from a "modern " car i bet it would set a code with the BCM and more then likely you wouldnt be able to even start the car due to antitheft or some nonsense of the like
If I bought a car around this age it would be my daily driver I love older cars and hate how new cars have a big tablet in the center that tells you everything.
Can't wait for more updates on this! It is so cool to see throw away cars from the 70's-80's era.... The cars we used to take for granted...are now mostly gone...
That's gotta be one of the cleanest J cars I've seen in years! It's a keeper in my eyes, it's too old for most people to be worth anything more than $750-$1k on the used market, you'd make more money by keeping it and rocking the smiles per mile concept 😂
I have a soft spot for these cars. I had a job as a "vehicle messenger" for a bank when I was in college and we had a fleet of 1986 Caviilier wagons. Poor things put up with a lot of abuse from all the other college kids that worked there but they kept on going. Nice find Jay, I would hang on to it if it was me.
Hey Jay, if you ever need any little small pieces for this car that are easy to ship let me know. I’m up in Maine. I have an 84 cavalier out in the field behind my house that’s been sitting there for about 30 years and is totally rotted out. I believe it only has 85,000 miles or so, the interior is mint. Lots of good parts I’d hate to see go to waste. Good luck with the new project!
Fellow Mainer!
Are you serious? I’d take the seatbealts. (The part on the floor by the console) the glove box with the latch on the dash side too. I’d be interested in a lot of the inside
Yes, I’m serious. I believe all of that you mentioned so far is intact and still good. The interior is brown, not sure if that matters to you or not. Do you have an email I can get? I can speak to you further there and send photos.
@@DevoldoinHDyes sir. Penobscot county.
@@MXguy95 I forgot to tag you in my reply. Just making sure you got it. As I stated the interior is brown. I wanted to make sure you still wanted those parts before I send them. If you need anything more than that let me know.
Awesome 👏🏼 looking sharp. 40 years old and still ticking. I love those simple computer free cars. Definitely more reliable than ones of today market.
No surprise they did so well, sales wise.
In 1982, I learned to drive as a teenager in a beige Chevy Cavalier sedan. Good memories. Dirt simple humble cars with cheap plastic interiors. But so, so reliable and functional you had to respect them.
Drove my girlfriends 83 Cav from Michigan to Florida and back in 93. Had to run the heater in traffic to keep it from over heating because the electric fan didn't work. Got a flat tire on the same trip. Good times, thanks for bringing back the memories.
Yours looks nice. I had an 83 coupe with no options or even a cigarette lighter, but I didn’t want a Chevette. It served me well and later my sister drove it until it just died. When GM could make a reliable vehicle. Good luck with the Cavalier.
We had a 84 Buick Skyhawk. It wasn’t a T-Type but it was red with black out trim, alloy wheels 5 speed stick and full instrumentation. Pretty cool car then. Dad loved it because it got awesome gas mileage.
Oh the memories. My first car was a 1985 Chevy Cabalier gray. Drove the hell out that thing, you could not kill it. Tough little cars.
They rattle, shake, and tremble. But they will do that for years and years of faithful service 😂
I see this video brought out all the furries 👍🏻
my grandfather worked at gm lordstown for 40 years he was a tool and die man. his tools made those cars. keep the old gal going !
Jay, that's a beautiful old classic! Looks garage-kept. Absolutely worth fixing up!
I love these cars. I had my grandma's 1984 Cavalier wagon and I ran it all through college back in 1997. The only issue I had to fix was the AC. I never see the wagons anymore and if I ever found one in good shape id buy it! Thanks for the memories!
Had to click on this because my first car was an ‘84 Cavalier “Type 10” 2 door. Maroon, no A.C. Seeing the interior and engine compartment, along with hearing it start up and the interior buzzers was kinda cool.
Yes! Gotta love the ol pressure driven gm transmissions. When you showed the leak, I already knew where this was going. I got a 92 gmc jimmy that had bad Trans cooler lines bought it for $400 owner said Trans is shot. Replaced lined, topped it off and it was just fine all 4 gears. Very common thing on these ol gm cars.
Drove one these for drivers Ed. back in the 1980's and later had a 1987 4-door like this one with the 2.0 and auto trans except in light blue. Have also driven the next 2 newer generations of Cavalier but I always thought this generation felt the tightest and best put together with no squeaks and rattles unlike the newer generations. Nothing to look at but it was comfortable, got great gas mileage, was super reliable and easy and cheap to fix. Would love to find a clean one like that.
I had a 1987 Maroon Cavalier. It died with 365,000 miles on it. Mostly because the body rusted out thanks to New York salting the crap out of our roads.
I had a '82 Omega bought new. Those GM cars back then required you be a tinkerer to keep them running; nothing major, just picky stuff. But, if those picky items didn't get fixed the car would not last very long. I kept mine in good working order and it ran 186,000 miles before I sold it and bought a new car.
Oh wow, my first car was the same make and model, same color too. Dang you done brought back so many memories and nostalgia for me. Kinda emotional lol. Every man’s first car had a special place in his heart, no matter what it was. Oh I paid $350 for mine back in 2002, it was kinda a beater at that point, but so similar price too. By beater I mean high mileage, smelled of cigarettes bad when I got it. Driver rear window didn’t work. Not the greatest interior, exterior was excellent. Engine and transmission was ok given 177k miles on it. Had to hit the passenger headlight now and again for it to work. Had to hit it just right too. Never did get the glove box open after I put the registration in it, damn thing done got stuck. Damn glove box claimed a box of Phillies blunts too. It was a 1985 for the year, which is the year I was born. So my first car was born the year I was. Damn if we lived in the same state I’d buy it off you. To have my first car again. Was it PA titled before?
The VSS is the vehicle speed sensor that lives in the speedometer. This brings back memories of my 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. The lock-up torque converter worked the same way. There is a rotating vane in the speedometer that is counted by the ECM. There are lockup parameters dependent upon the vehicle. Mine locked up at 48mph cruising and disengaged when touching the brake pedal.
I admire your excitement and passion for this little old Chevy ❤❤❤
Awesome video. Nothing like an old Cavalier
Nice to see one still running around. My first car when I 16 was a 1984 cavelier. Mine was exactly like that except it was shit brown.
The TH125s are damn near hard to kill unless he was driving it low. Even then, filter and fluid and you usually can send it. The most amazing thing is that the buzzer stilll works. The heat and humidty kills those.
One of my favorite products for automatic transmissions is the red bottle of LubeGard. I use it in my 2001 Ram's 46RE and I'd highly recommend it for this lil Cavalier here.
my 40s now. Something like this was everybody's first car. Mine was a 1986 Chrysler reliant hydrated piss yellow. Timing belt snapped. And then I found the old beat up brown 76 Corolla 5-speed 200$ had so much fun in that and oh yeah I like dom says I was double clutching like I should 😂
I had a 1986 model that was an RS it had the rectangle gauge cluster that had the 5mph on the left and 85mph on the right not the round ones that you have and that needle gets past 55mph it went ape shit.mine had the dummy light too for temp and oil and battery. I added a tach on mine lol I loved that lil car for my first car for $50 in 2003. Drove that car til 319 thousand miles original engine and trans. The fuse box melted for some reason and that was that for her 😔
These were/are one of the cars GM made that’s Camry level reliable. I’m glad you’re thinking about cleaning it up.
Congrats on finding such a nice little old Cavalier. My parents and I purchased a brand new 1985 (ordered out) in the SC trim in gray over gray and automatic. Loved that car and wish so badly that I could find one like that again. I do have my most saught after car now: a last model year 1988 Cadillac Cimarron. Yes, the super fancy Cavalier! But it's super clean and low miles and I love it.
So glad you saved this, saw it on the front drive GM group on Facebook and was glad it didn’t get scrapped, way too clean of a car.
So glad you saved this gem. Good car. Owned a Cavalier once. It had the 2.2.
My neighbor sold me an 86 Corsica with 2.0 in it. It got me by till i got the Cavalier.
Its always great to see cars that was once apart of my childhood cars like the cavalier escort and corsicas and trucks like the mid 90s Ford rangers and Chevy S10s
That's a real gem! Nice acquisition! 👍👍 Definitely worth fixing...and keeping if you decide to. Still real good on gas, of course. I really wish that the car makers still made cars like these. But, yeah......thanks for sharing, Jay!
$300?! What a steal.
Around 2002, I bought one of these with a failing transmission for $1 and we had a weekend of debauchery and degeneracy. You'd be surprised how much air it can catch.
Jay I saw your video from 5 years ago saving a scrap grey Ford Ranger. You were wearing a pizza planet shirt. now you got long hair and beard now? You are getting old old bruh. 🤣 I enjoy watching you save these old vehicles! you must be making a killing flipping old cars! congrats on your success
There is no mistaking the drone of a 4 cyl GM of that era. No other brand sounded like that, especially Japanese cars. I had a Celebrity back in the day with an Iron Duke that sounded just the same. And you had to get on it all the time just to get up to speed LOL. As rust free as it is you stole it at that price plus parts.
Neat find , the dealer key tag is crazy well preserved,
Talk about a *time capsule* Jay! 👀 That puppy is cherry!! 🔧🔩
We've missed you and these resurrection videos Jay! Love your problem solving skills and resourcefulness, much respect. Someone loved and took care of that car, they weren't built to last forty years. The paperwork was interesting, wonder how much trade in they got for a sixteen year old Impala. That dealer/owner card used to be a metal plate with info about the owner, dealer, ect. It was attached to the warranty book and called a Protecto Plate. I still have the original one and the build sheet from my 1970 Monte Carlo. Peace.
A good day when Jay drops a new video
My dad had a 2-door blue '86 back in the early 90's. Probably the first car I got to steer as a little kid. I'd really love to find one in clean condition so that I can join the 80's J-body brigade!
TRANCE! I haven’t seen your name pop up in awhile! Glad to see you still around! Find you a j-car before other people start collecting them😂
Also, digging that new profile pic! Turned into a hunk!
Nice, I've owned 6 Cavaliers, two automatics, a 99 I bought brand new sold it and the next was 2002, the rest were 5-speeds, I'm pretty much just a fan of 95-05.
My Grandfather had a 1984 Pontiac Sunbird similar to that . I took my driver's license test in it. The license examiner was tall and good sized person and almost didn't fit in. I thought I wasn't going to pass because they had a rough time getting in that car.😅 Car drove really well and I passed. Look forward to seeing more content on it.
This car is a 💎 Love it. Looking very forward for updates on this gem of a car. Awesome video Jay 😃👍
I love these GM J Bodies!! Definitely a great great great car. My wife daily’s a 93 Cavalier 4 door 2.2L that we bought for $350 with a bad fuel pump. The scrap yard had already been called when we showed up to all about it. Fuel pump, tires, plugs, wires, coils, coil mounting plate (that was fun) and an oil change and it runs. I tease my wife by calling it the world’s largest go cart but it’s a fun little car to run around in. Still looking for a handful of odds and ends but it’s blast.
There's something so pleasing seeing about seeing such an austere classic, like a 1985 4-door Cavalier not only surviving, but thriving! A family friend of my parents had a... it was either a dark blue or gray 1987 4-door Cavalier, and it was basic motoring at its finest. Can never go wrong with an honest, simple car! It's very cool to see that the original owner held onto everything, including the dealer key tag (I did the same thing and kept the dealer tag when I bought my Subaru in 2021.) I noticed the company that made that key tag was from my hometown of Troy, Michigan (a pointless detail, but just felt like mentioning.)
Parents had an 83 or 84. I remember the paint going bad . Along with many other issues. Radio went out, rack and pinion went out. Which a recall. Paint faded out way too early. A/C gave out and the list goes on. Nail in the coffin was the lifter’s or valves went out in 93.
I had an 86 Cavalier 4-door, with a sun roof. My dad bought it off someone he'd known from work in the late 90s, for me to drive. I loved that thing a lot, but it quickly started drinking oil and smoking like crazy. I lived in a really podunk NW Ohio town at the time, one mechanic attached to a BP station. Took the car there three times, and he couldn't get the oil to stop leaking, always blamed the sending unit. Had to sell it to a neighbor's son in Michigan, who replaced the crumbling factory cork head gasket. Oil stopped leaking. I would so love to have that exact car back, even today.
Bought one of these in wagon version years back with 90,000 miles for $500. drove it for 31/2 years and pur 90,000 miles on it with very little work,5 spd version a great car.
Love the car!!! I'm a sucker for 80's GM stuff, and your post came at a good time since Big AL hasn't done content in ages.
Rip big al
@scottgray9674 what? He didn't pass did he?
My dad worked in the paint shop at the Lordstown plant where the Cavaliers were built. He might’ve worked on that one. 😊
I can't remember what I had for lunch 2 days ago but I remembered 45mph was the O/D speed. That is an awesome find, Jay!
I used to have a car like that some years back and the motor mount that was bad was called a dog bone because you can guess what it look like .
That could have ended up at the Winston Pull-A-Part. Glad you saved it! (Did I just say that about a Cavalier?) I had an '84 way back when.
It's always cool to find A relic from your past isn't it my first car was a 1987 Chevy cavalier that looks a lot like the one in this video except mine was turd brown the pastor at my grandmother's Church his wife had this cavalier and I bought it off of him drove it for quite a while then traded it in on a Dodge truck
My first car was a dark red 1985 Cavalier “Type 10”. Loved it, drove the hell out of it for 8yrs until it just fell apart mechanically. Replaced it with a….1993 red Cavalier 2-door. You are correct about the 80s Cavalier being a basic car, the 93 version's felt like luxury cars by comparison. But I have such fond memories of that ‘85, fun to tool around in, it was so easy to fix and keep running, 24mpg all day long.
I bought a 1986 cavalier just like that one for 700 back in the 90s. It had 146,000 on it and it lasted me 3 yrs. Good car
I absolutely love when old cars still have the original docs in the glovebox! My little bros 90 Miata had its owners manual, dealership docs, and its first inspection at 7 miles! Also congrats on 100k subs! ( I know I'm wayyyy late lol)
I’ve had many cars with some original paperwork. But this much documentation?!? Is just unreal! Good to see you Fuzz Butt! I still have to put that radio in the dodge you got me 😅
@@MXguy95 DOO EET! I wish I have some old Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash tapes to throw in with the other “extras” in the box!
Ok. Here's my nugget on Cavaliers this age. I had an '84 that I rebuilt the engine on when I got it. It had been ran hot due to a leaking water pump.
After I got it running, rebuilt and a new water pump...the fan on the rad would not come on. So the a/c had a bad compressor on it so I ran the car in a/c mode all the time with the pressure switch on the accumulator unplugged, to prevent compressor from running...which made the rad can run all tje time car was on.
For several years I searched for an answer for why the rad fan wouldnt cycle. I put a couple of fan switches on at the thermostat housing and that did not help. I could bypass the switch and the fan would run. So by mistake I found out why the problem existed.
Even the dealerships said to just bypass the fan switch...and I told them it wasnt designed that way!
So I parked the car for a year or two and I didnt drive it. When I started to drive it again, the heater core sprung a leak. So I bypassed the heater core.
Low and behold, the fan switch started working! 😳
I replaced the heater core, and I tried to flush the old one. And it was stopped up with rust and barely flowed water.
So the flow path was from the water pump to the heater core, and from there to the thermostat housing. With that much restriction the bulb on the fan switch was never fully submersed in coolant. I guess the steam wasnt enough to cycle the switch.
So, anybody have this problem....bypass the heater core to check it if fan switch dont fix it. There are probably thousands of switches bypassed out there....if they are still on the road.
I loved my little Cavalier when I had one! Good little (inexpensive) car.
My Grandma had a red Cavalier, cool video 👍
Had an 85 olds Firenza. Same car really. Car wouldn’t go over about 60 up a hill and something was always broke on it. We referred to it as the crapper. Good times.
No way!!! My grandma had one of these back in the 90s, it was a MY1984. Michigan weather took its toll on it. I haven't seen one of these in so long, even the 2000s Cavaliers up here are getting pretty scarce.
Ive been working on a 83 convertible cav myself. It started right up and drove it home. Just need to replace all the rubber and fix some rust in the floor pans. Gonna tear down the engine just in case.
Theyre not great cars, but nowadays theyre rare.
It really didn’t hold a candle when compared to the civics and corollas it was competing against. But, having that boxy American styling just sold them like crazy. I love seeing them on the road. Although it’s very rare
Love the car, I think I'm older than you and the year that car came out, I bought the least expensive car Chevy had in 1985, a Chevy chevette, white, 4 door 5 speed, it cost me 6280 dallars out the door and it was financed for 5 years at 132 a month with the trade in of my 1980 Ford pinto, everyone made fun of that chevette,I drove it for 9 years and traded it in on a 1994 s10 pickup, I miss that car, I love cars from mid 80s to late 80s, it's when I first started driving, keep that car, if you do sell it, get in contact with me, nice car
Dang Bro that’s serious memories there. My aunt had that exact same cavalier it was red. I had an 83 skylark a fellow X car. Had a 93 cavalier too 👍👍
it feels like i haven't seen a video from you in years! so weird i just stopped getting recommended to you i didn't have any kids the last time i watched you 😭😭😭
My first brand new car was a 1985 Cavalier Type 10. I had the dealer order it from the factory with the optional 2.8 liter V6. Several weeks later the factory sent a message that said they discontinued the V6 option. I was super disappointed.
Great find. Nice solid little car. Take it to Radwood! I spend some time in these cars in my youth
Great find! Hoping to see more of this one on the channel. I bet that interior would clean up nice!
I love these cars! My uncle had one of these when I was 5 years old
That is a nice looking car for being 40 yrs old now! Can't believe that's a 1985. The Celebrity looked alot like this car as well! Both good cars from that era
I had the same car it was a 1986. It was my first car I beat the ĥeck out of it with pulling a trailer and towing cars.
Love the shoutout to Polebarn garage !
That’s pretty clean! Nice find
I’m willing to bet there’s at least one person at that dealership that still knows the car. At very least they’d likely want a picture with the car
Awesome! Would LOVE to see more on the car, especially an interior clean.
Back in the early nineties I had a gold 84 and I loved that car.
I had 1990 Chevy cavalier I brought with 49.000 a bad oil sensor ran like a dream after fix but it GM faulty head bolts and blew head gasket at 65000 new head and ARP bolt kit fix head bolt threads premature wear because it was a cast iron block with aluminum head gm use fine thread head bolt guy who did head gasket was 40 year gm plant worker and dealer mechanic who knew 2.2 problem by back of his hand
i own an 85 convertible. love to see another clean one!
congrats on saving the cavalier my grandmother had one for years
Haha- that's from the year I graduated HS. Nice to see it still plugging away with your fixes.
A buddy told me he had a bit of luck polishing run scratches off windshields with 3000 grit and a jewellers emery cloth like they use to polish watch crystals. good goin Jay
Yay! Excited to see this Cavvy up and going! Looks great so far!
Super cool having all the paper work. It's worth a fix up!
These 80's and 90's Subcompacts are making a comeback. The 3 biggest trends I have noticed in the car culture the last several years are the 80's and 90's subcompacts, from all the munfactors, Mir-late 70's muscle cars from the Big 4 (AMC included) and the Bull and Bricknose Ford F100 & F150's. They are Cheap to buy, Easy to work on and the parts are still available at the parts houses.
My family used to drive those when I was a kid. I would go out of my way to own that car! good find.
i think there are some window replacement companies that sometimes can polish the scratch out depending on severity of the scratch in the window .)
I pasted my driving test in 1985 so I was was on your side of the pond that car could have been mine.
what a cool video! my first car was a 1985 Pontiac 6000LE (same car as this) and as a kid i thought that v6 was the fastest thing in the world lol. that beast went through 5 accidents from youthful stupidity, and i still couldn't kill that little 2.8L... last one knocked all the coolant clean out of it, she made me walk across town, and when i came back it fired right up and kept goin like nothing happened. those cars were something else. we still had a little pride in em back then, no matter how silly looking.
i'm watchin and i hear in the background like "what is that noise.. wait, is that rain on the roof? i remember when you could hear rain on the roof!" new cars are so insulated, and i didn't even realize when it happened.
Fun fact, the Pontiac 6000 is not the same as a cavalier. They are completely different chassis and do not share components. Pontiac DID however have a car built off the “j platform” which was called the sunbird! Later it became known as the sun fire when the car was redesigned in the mid 1990s
@@MXguy95 i remembered the Sunbird and knew it to be a J-body, but didn't realized until i checked that the 6000 was an entirely different chassis. learn something new every day. thanks
Hell of a deal bro & seems like it would clean up good 👍
It would be interesting to drive a car like this, back to the dealership it was originally purchased at, if it was still in business, just to see what they think.
Considering this car was considered a throwaway car, it is still in nice condition, considering it's age.
Brings back memories. I had an 86 back in 01. It was Grey. Thing was a beast.
These are the kind of cars I drive. They are cheap to buy and maybe I have to put a little into it, but they just run. My daily driver is a 2013 Chevy Spark that I just love. Would love to find a Chevy Citation.
GREAT FIND!
I've got four 2nd gen (88 - 94) V6 Cavaliers. Love these cars. I too gave $300 for my first one. An 88 Z24 5spd Coupe. I've got some videos of them on my channel.
I had 3 of these in my life... My favorite was my 85 with a 2.0 -4sp manual. Nuked a clutch in 6 months on that car...... 3-4k clutch dumps. I miss that car. Had 2 amps, a 15" sub, 6x9s, and 3.5 up front.